Canadians Repatriate Their Heritage

J.E.H. MacDonald’s stormy canvas titled Wind Clouds, expected to fetch up to $175,000 at Sotheby’s Nov. 23 event at the Royal Ontario Museum, is not the priciest Group of Seven work being offered during this season’s Canadian art sales, which include a Lawren Harris sketch of Baffin Island that’s expected to be sold by Heffel for close to $1 million.

But, as a relic from one of the pivotal events in the evolution of Canadian culture and identity, MacDonald’s ominous scene — held in a private collection in the U.S. for much of the past century — has a distinct layer of history brushed across the dark blues and greys of its angry sky.

“It’s a spectacular painting and one with great historical significance,” Sotheby’s specialist Mark Buck told Postmedia News, noting that Wind Clouds was tagged No. 91 at the group’s inaugural show from May 7 to 20 at what was then the Art Museum of Toronto.